Beach Glass
by siobhane
Summary: A teenage Edea meets a young man on the beach. Little does she know, some day he will matter. (Fluff prompt, for Klepto-maniac0)


The storm was expected to roll in late afternoon, but Edea ignored the bruised line of clouds on the horizon and combed her fingers through the sand. She loved that sand was not a single color up close – if one paid attention, there were flecks of pink and black and coral and sometimes even blue, and full of shimmery bits of mica and pulverized mother of pearl.

It was beach glass she sought today. The tourists paid handsomely for colors, especially blue.

In Edea's opinion, the common green was more appealing, but blue was rare, and therefore, much more desirable.

There were only a handful of guests up at the house, where her parents took in travelers bed and breakfast style. It was too early in the season and the weather still too chilly to truly enjoy the beach, but that meant Edea's selection today wasn't so picked over as it was in the warmer months.

She sifted through the rocks and broken shells at the water line and picked out a few frosted green bits no bigger than pebbles and added them to the pouch at her waist. In the distance, thunder boomed.

"Looking for buried treasure?"

The young man was handsome, maybe a year older than Edea herself, if she were to judge by the boyish softness of his face and the gangling limbs and knobby knees, none of which he seemed to be well in control of.

His smile was broad and open and sharp, intelligent blue eyes crinkled at the corners behind round, gold framed glasses. In spite of the chill in the air, he wore only swim trunks.

"Wow," he said as Edea turned to face him. His cheeks colored. "You're... wow."

Edea rolled her eyes. Typical.

She often wondered if her magic cast some spell over men that not only rendered them blithering idiots, but also enchanted them into believing she was more attractive than she was. Their reaction was always so out of proportion to what Edea saw in the mirror every day. A pale, plain face, her body rail thin and angular, eyes the color of lettuce. Not pretty or even remotely beautiful.

The young man squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I'm Cid. My family's staying in the house up on the cliff."

"Edea. I live in the house on the cliff."

"Lucky! It's beautiful here," he said. "I just never imagined the ocean would be so loud."

"You've never seen the ocean before?"

"I've seen the ocean, I've just never been on a beach before," he admitted. "I thought it would be warmer, too."

"It's February."

He chuckled and shrugged, a little embarrassed and it was rather... _cute_.

"I'm from Deling City," he offered as Edea bent down to retrieve a small lavender scallop shell from the sand.

"Never been there," she said and added the shell to her collection. "Probably won't ever go."

"Why not?"

"I have my reasons."

"Afraid of new things?"

"No," she said. "I'm afraid of people and their ulterior motives."

He didn't get the hint and followed her down the beach, where she crouched before a small tide pool to sift through the rocks for more interesting artifacts.

Goosebumps covered Cid's arms and bare chest.

"You should go put some clothes on, Cid," she suggested. "There's a storm on the way. You'll catch cold."

"I'll be fine," he said and knelt down beside her. He picked up a small, oblong bit of green beach glass and held it up. "This is neat. I didn't know there was such a thing as rocks this color."

"It's not a rock," she said, but didn't elaborate.

He held it up to the sun, then toward her face. Edea flinched and glared, a warning to keep his distance that he pointedly ignored.

"Pretty," he said. "Same color as your eyes."

Edea never knew what to do with compliments, and she blushed at his open, honest delivery. He offered her the stone, but she shook her head.

"Finder's keeper's," she said. "It's yours."

"Then I'll have it as a reminder of the mysterious green-eyed girl from the beach who wouldn't give me the time of day," he said and stood. "I suppose I'll see you around, Edea."

"I'll be around," she said and plucked a bit of coral from the sand. "I live here, after all."

She watched him go, too curious for her own good. Halfway across the beach, he turned and caught her staring, smiled, lifted his hand, and then walked straight into the sea wall. He toppled over it with a cry, and Edea could not help her laughter, nor did she stifle it to spare his pride.

When he popped up on the other side, his face was flushed strawberry red and his glasses sat askew on his nose, but he laughed at himself and rubbed the abraision on his elbow.

"Graceful, aren't you, Cid from Deling City?"

"The most!" he called back. Then, he bent down, picked something up and held it to the light. "I found a blue one! Come here!"

In spite of herself, Edea joined him to inspect the bit of frosted blue glass. It was an enviable piece, the size of a Gil coin and a lighter shade than the ones she usually found.

"That's a nice one," she said.

"What is this stuff, anyway?"

"Broken glass that washes out to sea," she said. "The sand smooths the edges over time. That's why it looks frosted."

"Neat," he said and dropped the stone into her palm. "Keep this one. So you'll have something to remember me by, too."

It was the same shade of blue as his eyes.

* * *

Notes: Fluff prompt that got too long to post on Tumblr. For klepto-maniac0. This one was HARD, as I literally have no happy/fluffy Cid/Edea headcanons. At all. And Cid is not my favorite, so writing him as something other than a coward was tough. So, meet-cute it is. :)


End file.
